Author Archives: msiemionko

National Science Foundation Opportunity: ADVANCE

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The NSF ADVANCE program contributes to the National Science Foundation’s goal of a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce. In this solicitation, the NSF ADVANCE program seeks to build on prior NSF ADVANCE work and other research and literature concerning gender, racial, and ethnic equity. The NSF ADVANCE program goal is to broaden the implementation of evidence-based systemic change strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate.

For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive. All NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Institutional Transformation (IT), Adaptation, Partnership, and Catalyst, in support of the NSF ADVANCE program goal to broaden the implementation of systemic strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.

  • The Institutional Transformation (IT) track is designed to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative systemic change strategies that promote gender equity for STEM faculty within an institution of higher education.
  • The Adaptation track is designed to support the work to adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence-based systemic change strategies that have been shown to promote gender equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. Adaptation projects can either: 1) support the adaptation of evidence-based systemic change strategies to promote equity for STEM faculty within an institution of higher education; or 2) facilitate national or regional STEM disciplinary transformation by adapting evidence-based systemic change strategies to non-profit, non-academic organizations.
  • The Partnership track is designed to support the work to facilitate the broader adaptation of gender equity and systemic change strategies. Partnership projects are expected to result in national or regional transformation in STEM academic workplaces and the academic profession and demonstrate significant reach. Partnership projects can focus on the transformation of institutions and organizations and/or the transformation within one or more STEM disciplines.
  • The Catalyst track is designed to broaden the types of IHEs that are able to undertake data collection and institutional self-assessment work to identify systemic gender inequities impacting their STEM faculty so that these can be addressed by the institution.

Please note that NSF ADVANCE does not provide fellowships, research, or travel grants to individual students, postdoctoral researchers, or faculty to pursue STEM degrees or research. Undergraduate STEM opportunities can be found HERE and graduate STEM opportunities HERE.


21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC)

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The 21st Century Community Learning Center’s (CLCC) program provides opportunities for children who come from economically disadvantaged families and attend low performing schools to receive academic supports. School districts, schools, community based organizations, including faith-based organizations, institutions of higher education, city or county government agencies, for-profit corporations and other public or private entities are eligible for CCLC grants.

The Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Improvement and Innovation administers the CLCC grant program. This federally funded program supports high-quality, out-of-school time learning opportunities and related activities for students who attend eligible schools. Recent flexibility from the U.S. Department of Education allows 21st Century funds to be used for expanded learning time programming during the school day, week or year in addition to out-of-school time.

The deadline for all Fiscal Year 2021 21st Century Community Learning Center applications is April 24, 2020, at 5 pm.
 
The U.S. Department of Education annually provides 21st Century funds to states to support activities pursuant to implementing expanded learning time and out-of-school time that clearly align academic services to the identified needs of students and state academic standards. Funding for this grant is contingent upon the Department’s receipt of federal funding.
 
Grant application period: Monday, March 2, 2020, at 8 am through Friday, April 24, 2020, at 5 pm.
 
Submission of grant application: Applicants must submit applications through the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP), the Department’s grants application system. No extensions will be permitted once the CCIP closes. The superintendent/CCIP authorized representative of the submitting organization must give final approval of the application in the CCIP prior to the deadline. 

Defense Health Program – Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

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The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) to support to support medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY20 PRMRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.   

The vision and mission of the PRMRP is improve the health, care, and well-being of all military Service members, Veterans, and beneficiaries by encouraging, identifying, selecting, and managing medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health.

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas: All applications submitted to the PRMRP must address at least one of the FY20 PRMRP Congressionally directed topic areas. The FY20 PRMRP Topic Areas are as follows:

Arthritis Burn Pit Exposure
Chronic Migraine Post-Traumatic Headache
Congestive Heart Disease Diabetes
Dystonia Eating Disorder
Emerging Viral Disease Endometriosis
Epidermolysia Bullosa Familial Hypercholesterolemia
Fibrous Dysplasia Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis
Food Allergies Fragile X
Frontotemporal Degeneration Hepatitis B
Guillain-Barre Syndromemorrhage Control Immunomonitoring of Intestinal Transplants
Hydrocephalus Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Interstitial Cystitis Metals Toxicology
Mitchondrial Disease Musculoskeletal Health
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Myotonic Dystrophy Nutrition Optimization
Pancreatitis Pathogen-Inactivated Blood Products
Plant Based Vaccines Polycystic Kidney Disease
Pressure Ulcers Pulmonary Fibrosis
Resilience Training Respiratory Health
Rheumatoid Arthritis Sleep Disorders and Restriction
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Sustained Release Drug Delivery
Vascular Malformations Women’s Heart Disease

Discovery Award – Letter of Intent due April 16, 2020

Postdoctoral fellow or clinical fellow (or equivalent) and above:

  • Supports the exploration of a highly innovative new concept or untested theory.
  • Not intended to support the logical progression of an already established line of questioning.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators, and their organization(s).
  • Maximum of $200,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance of 2 years.

Focused Program Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Full Professor level or above (or equivalent):

  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports a synergistic, multidisciplinary research program of at least four distinct but complementary projects addressing an overarching goal.
  • Projects should work together to answer critical questions, resolve differing hypotheses, and translate laboratory findings to clinical applications.
  • Projects may range from exploratory/hypothesis-developing through small-scale clinical trials that together will address the overarching goal/question.
  • Research team of highly qualified, multidisciplinary project leaders should be led by a PI with demonstrated success in directing large, focused projects.
  • Maximum of $7.2 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance of 4 years.

Investigator-Initiated Research Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent):
  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports research that will make an original and important contribution to the field of research or patient care in the topic area(s) of interest.
  • Partnering PI Option available.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Maximum of $1.6 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum of $2 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs) for applications including a Partnering PI Option.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.

Technology/Therapeutic Development Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent):

  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports the translation of promising pre-clinical findings into clinical applications for prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, or quality of life.
  • Product-oriented (e.g., device, drug, clinical guidelines). The product(s) to be developed may be a tangible item such as a pharmacologic agent (drugs or biologics) or device, or a knowledge-based product.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Maximum of $4 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the PRMRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website.

Point of Contact: CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org

Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative

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This FY 2021 Air Force Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) competition is open only to, and proposals are to be submitted only by, US institutions of higher education (universities) with degree-granting programs in science and/or engineering, including DoD institutions of higher education. To the extent that it is a part of a US institution of higher education and is not designated as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) or other University Affiliated Laboratory (UAL) is eligible to submit a proposal to this MURI competition and/or receive MURI funds. Ineligible organizations (e.g., industry, DoD laboratories, FFRDCs, and foreign entities) may collaborate on the research but may not receive MURI funds directly or via sub award. When additional funding for an ineligible organization is necessary to make the proposed collaboration possible, such funds may be identified via a separate proposal from that organization. This supplemental proposal shall be attached to the primary MURI proposal and will be evaluated in accordance with the MURI review criteria by the responsible Research Topic Chief. If approved, the supplemental proposal may be funded using non-MURI or non-Government funds.

DOD’s MURI program addresses high-risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. The program was initiated over 25 years ago and it has regularly produced significant scientific breakthroughs with far reaching consequences to the fields of science, economic growth, and revolutionary new military technologies. Key to the program’s success is the close management of the MURI projects by Service program officers and their active role in providing research guidance.

Detailed descriptions of the topics and the Topic Chief for each can be found in Section II. I, entitled, “SPECIFIC MURI TOPICS,” (page 39 of 79 in the FOA document). The detailed descriptions are intended to provide the applicant a frame of reference and are not meant to be restrictive to the possible approaches to achieving the goals of the topic and the program. Innovative ideas addressing these research topics are highly encouraged.

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) for Extramural Biomedical Research and Development

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This BAA is intended to solicit extramural research and development ideas using the authority provided by United States Code, Title 10, Section 2358. This BAA is issued under the provisions of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-369), as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.102(d) (2) and 35.016 and in DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDGARs) 22.315. In accordance with FAR 6.102, projects funded under this BAA must be for basic and applied research to support scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on development of a specific system or hardware solution. Research and development funding through this BAA are intended and expected to benefit and inform both military and civilian medical practice and knowledge.

This BAA provides a general description of USSOCOM’s research and development programs, including research areas of interest, evaluation and selection criteria, pre-proposal/pre-application and full proposal/application preparation instructions, and general administrative information. Submission of a pre-proposal/pre-application is required. After review, if the USSOCOM is interested in receiving a full proposal/application, the Applicant or Offeror will be invited to submit a full proposal or full application. Specific submission information and additional administrative requirements can be found in the document titled “General Submission Instructions” available in Grants.gov along with this BAA.

USSOCOM utilizes the tools and processes provided by Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). The CDMRP manages the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) system and retrieval and processing of full proposal/application submissions from Grants.gov. Refer to Section II.G, Agency Contacts, for additional information.